Skippers Pearl Slattery & Laurie Ryan ready for Part 3 of FAI Cup final trilogy

It's Part 3 of a Sports Direct FAI Women's Cup final trilogy on Sunday as Shelbourne and Athlone Town collide once again at Tallaght Stadium.

Ciaran Kilduff's Athlone beat Shels on penalties last year to gain revenge for the Reds' 2-0 victory in 2022.

Athlone kicked on in 2024 to win their first ever SSE Airtricity Women's Premier Division, just four years after they first entered the division, and are now potentially 90 minutes away from winning a double.

But doubles aren't easy to come by.

Shels only finished two points behind Athlone in the league and will be desperate to end what's been a positive campaign under Eoin Wearen with some silverware.

"I think our motivation is, we don't want to feel the way we did last year," said Shelbourne captain Pearl Slattery.

"This is why we train so much in the off-season, pre-season, all the way through the season. You have to enjoy these weeks together as a group. Every year it's a different experience."

A rivalry has bubbled over the last three years between these two clubs, and if their league meetings are anything to go by, Sunday should be a spicy affair.

"That's what you want," Slattery said. "I think in the women's game, sometimes we're too nice. There's no harm in rivalry. I think it's healthy. No doubt about it, off the pitch we have respect for each other... but once we cross the white line we want to beat each other.

"When cup finals come around, it's not just about the players and the staff. It's about the club, your family and friends. We want to be enjoying Sunday with them. That's the motivation really."

For, Athlone, the dymanics have changed.

They are no longer the underdogs trying to unsettle the established big guns. Now, they're the team to beat.

Kilduff has blended some